For as long as I can remember there have always been pets in my house. Most of the time it was one dog and one cat to make it all neat and even, but currently in a house only built for city living, there are two dogs and three cats. It all started with a Christmas puppy.

The original plan was to have one dog and that was it, but we made seemingly accurate arguments to convince ourselves that a beagle pound puppy would accompany our family nicely. All I wanted was a movie picturesque, loyal, snuggly dog. Since my mom stole the love of my Christmas puppy, we were hoping that the new puppy would be mine, but that didn’t happen either. I decided that I wasn’t going to get anywhere by asking for a third dog, so I decided to take a different route, a cat.

By this point in my life I was fully aware that one, I wasn’t going to get a cat if I asked both of my parents, and two, I was not going to get anywhere just by vaguely asking. Naturally I started the planning process. I spent an entire month on my plan, and finally it was all set up. I had the kitten picked out, all of my causes were in order, and I even saved up enough money to not only to buy the cat, but a litter box and food as well (just in case). My dad is the pushover in the family so I decided to go after him first. My mom was going away to New York on business that Saturday and she would not be coming back for three days, that morning I pounced. I woke my dad up a little bit later than normal so that I wouldn’t catch him in a grumpy mood, and the first thing he saw was a computer screen with the prettiest kitten in the SPCA on it. I pitched my plan, and the plan wasn’t to buy her (at least that’s what I told him) the intention was only to go see her at the SPCA. To my surprise, he said yes!

We went in and had a little meet and greet with her, and without even calling my mom first, we came home with a cat. In our defense, the justification behind not telling her first was for one that she would have said no, but also there was no way to put a cat on hold so we “had” to snatch her up before someone else did. My mom called us about two hours later and instead of answering the phone with a traditional “Hello,” I answered with “Where should we put the litter box?”

Since then that kitten has been the best little buddy anyone could ask for. She is sweet, playful and somewhat snuggly, everything man’s best friend ideally is. If you are on the market for the perfect television dog, go to the SPCA and buy yourself a cat.